Tick, tock, ting.
A wooden melody.

What is a xylophone?

The xylophone is a tuned percussion instrument with wooden bars that are struck with mallets. Each bar plays one note: long bars sound low and short bars sound high. On large xylophones, resonator tubes under the bars make the sound stronger. The similar instrument with metal bars is called a metallophone; it rings for longer.

Notes and bars

The xylophone in Melokta has eight bars from C4 to C5: C, D, E, F, G, A, B and high C. This is a C major scale: the longest bar is low C and the shortest is high C. On a computer keyboard the keys A S D F G H J K play the bars from left to right.

How do you play the xylophone?

• Hold the mallet loosely between the thumb and index finger and move from the wrist.
• Strike the middle of the bar and lift the mallet straight away: if it stays on the bar the sound is muffled.
• With two mallets, alternate right and left so your hands do not get tired on fast notes.
• In Melokta you can hit two bars at once with several fingers.

First melodies

1. C–D–E–F–G up and G–F–E–D–C down.
2. G–E, G–E: the two notes of a cuckoo call.
3. C–C–G–G–A–A–G: the opening of the folk tune “Twinkle, Twinkle” (the French “Ah! vous dirai-je, maman”).
4. The C–E–G triad: play the notes of a chord one after another.